James Blunt

Singer-songwriter

• Born: February 22, 1974
• Place of Birth: Tidworth, England

Contribution: James Blunt is a British singer-songwriter best known for his hit single “You’re Beautiful” from his 2004 debut album, Back to Bedlam. By 2024, Blunt had released seven albums, the last of which was Who We Used to Be, released in the United States in 2023.

Background

James Blunt was born James Hillier Blount in a military hospital in Tidworth, Wiltshire, England, to Jane A. F. Amos and Charles Blount. He has two younger sisters, Emily and Daisy. His childhood was scattered throughout Europe, due in large part to his father’s post as a corporal in the British Army.

By the time he was seven years old, Blunt had learned to play the piano and the violin. At age fourteen, while at the Harrow School in northwest London, he began playing and writing songs on the guitar. His mother was the primary source of his musical education, introducing him to the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Pink Floyd.

After leaving Harrow, Blunt won Army-sponsored acceptance to the University of Bristol to study aeronautical engineering. He later switched his focus to sociology. After receiving his bachelor of science in sociology in 1996, Blunt continued his family’s long tradition of military service by enrolling at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in Berkshire. He ultimately attained the rank of captain in the British Army.

Blunt’s military service was intensive. As the lead officer in a NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo in the summer of 1999, Blunt received direct orders from US Army general Wesley Clark to attack Russian forces holding down an airfield. Blunt, whose forces outnumbered the Russians approximately 150 to 1, believed that such disproportionate aggression could spark a much larger military conflict. Risking court martial, he refused the order. A higher-ranked officer ultimately intervened, and the Russian forces peacefully surrendered two weeks later.

Though his desire to pursue music never wavered, Blunt eventually served six years in the British Army, completing his engagement in October 2002. One of his final assignments was to stand guard at the coffin of the Queen Mother after her death in 2002.

Career

Shortly after his departure from the army, Blunt performed at the venerated South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival in Austin, Texas, in 2004. While there, he captured the attention of producer and former 4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry, who signed Blunt to her own label, Custard Records, distributed by Atlantic Records. Blunt began work on his debut album in Los Angeles with producer Tom Rothrock. Back to Bedlam was released in October 2004.

Driven by the enormous popularity of the single “You’re Beautiful,” Blunt’s melancholic ode to a female stranger, Back to Bedlam ultimately became an international success, making Blunt one of the most universally discussed musicians to rise to prominence in recent decades. Critics worldwide praised the album’s raw emotion and honesty. His debut earned him five nominations at the 2007 Grammy Awards, including for best new artist, song of the year, and best pop vocal album. Blunt supported the release with a world tour.

Blunt’s second album, All the Lost Souls, released in September 2007, was less favorably received by critics, despite being a commercial success. Largely constructed around a narrative dealing with his newfound celebrity, it received mixed reviews and was panned by notable music publications for mechanical song formulas and banal wordplay. While his 2010 release, Some Kind of Trouble, debuted at number eleven on the Billboard 200 chart and at number four on the UK Albums Chart, it was met with still more criticism.

Unable to replicate the unprecedented success of his debut and exhausted from two world tours, Blunt was increasingly dogged by tabloid journalists. His critics began to regard him less as an artist and more as a product of his upper-class upbringing. Blunt consequently took a hiatus from recording and performing after completing his Some Kind of Trouble world tour in February 2012 and even considered quitting the music industry altogether. However, by the beginning of 2013, he had started work on his fourth album, Moon Landing, released in October of that year.

Blunt took a short hiatus from producing new music after re-releasing Moon Landing as Moon Landing—Apollo Edition—with three bonus tracks from the deluxe version and five new tracks in 2014. Instead, he joined the seventh season of The X Factor Australia as a judge in 2015. He returned to music in 2017 with The Afterlife. That album, as well as his 2019 album Once Upon a Mind, however, did not reach the popularity of his debut. In 2023, Blunt released, Who We Used to Be, his seventh studio album. The album was released in the United Kingdom in 2021, where it was certified gold. The songs on the album reflect Blunt's past, and the lyrics discuss everything from his initial refusal to settle down to grief. One song is a tribute to the actress Carrie Fisher, with whom Blunt once lived. Blunt followed the release of the album with the memoir Loosely Based on a Made-Up Story: A Non-Memoir. Blunt went on tour to promote the album in 2024.

Impact

Throughout his career, James Blunt has battled skepticism regarding both his personal and professional background and his merits as an artist. Whether because of his perceived upbringing, his prestigious boarding school education, or his lengthy military service, Blunt has been plagued by an inability to achieve acceptance by serious music critics, particularly in his native Britain. Despite this, he remains a commercial success and continues to challenge himself as an artist.

Personal Life

Blunt’s experience in the military helped shape him into a prominent antiwar spokesperson. His anti-conflict song “No Bravery,” from his debut album, was penned during his time in Kosovo in 1999. In addition, he has helped raise funds for the humanitarian aid organization Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) and for the charity Help for Heroes, which supports wounded British veterans.

Blunt married British aristocrat Alexandrina "Sofia" Wellesley in 2014. They had two sons together. As of 2024, Blunt and his family resided on the island of Ibiza in Spain.

Bibliography

Balfe, John. “James Blunt Quits Music Industry.” Entertainment.ie. Entertainment.ie, 22 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Sept. 2013.

Blunt, James. “Five Rounds with James Blunt.” Interview by Nancy Miller. Entertainment Weekly. Entertainment Weekly, 17 Mar. 2006. Web. 10 Sept. 2013.

Blunt, James. “Interview with James Blunt.” Interview by Stephanie Tardugno. TheCelebrityCafe.com. TheCelebrityCafe.com, 15 Apr. 2011. Web. 10 Sept. 2013.

Ellwood, Pip. “James Blunt Reveals Moon Landing Details.” Entertainment Focus. Entertainment Focus, 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 10 Sept. 2013.

"James Blunt." AllMusic, 2024, www.allmusic.com/artist/james-blunt-mn0000391586. Accessed 18 Sept. 2024.

Lewis, Tim. "James Blunt: 'Have I Changed and Grown Up? No, Not Really.'" The Guardian, 18 Feb. 2024, www.theguardian.com/food/2024/feb/18/james-blunt-have-i-changed-and-grown-up-no-not-really-ed-sheeran-celebrity-tales. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.

Peck, Tom. “How James Blunt Saved Us from World War 3.” Independent. Independent.co.uk, 15 Nov. 2010. Web. 10 Sept . 2013.

Thomas, David. “To Be Blunt, James, You Are a Trooper.” Telegraph. Telegraph Media, 1 Aug. 2005. Web. 10 Sept. 2013.